The intermodal industry has been streamlining to meet shipper's demands for quality service. Equipment manufacturers, truck load carriers and railroad lines play important roles in this process of rationalization. Rationalization, in the intermodal industry, involves the process of optimizing routes, rate services and equipment.
Efforts to simplify and expedite handling for rail and truck carriers have been attempted in the past. There are on-going efforts to make universal trailers, containers and attachments therefor, to allow trucking companies, shippers and the railroad to work together to flourish, rather than compete.
The benchmark of intermodal service combines the road effectiveness of truck transport with the cost effectiveness of double-stacked rail transport. Service and price, not mode, are strong considerations for shippers. Shippers also have the following goals: on-time delivery, complete deliveries, reduced transit times to meet a predetermined order cycle schedule; reduced inventory with more inventory turns; and flexibility.
To simplify their trailer fleets, there is a trend for trucking companies to convert to larger containers, such as 48- and 53-foot trailers, in an effort to standardize and lower costs.
Improvements in intermodal transportation can effect ocean carriers, as well as rail and truckload carriers. Recently, intermodal traffic has become more dispersed, and less concentrated around the ports. Thus, there is an increased demand for efficient service and improved equipment. Trains used in intermodal operations are shorter. They are running more frequently and shorter lanes. Thus, there appears to be a need for larger, high cube trailers, which may some day replace the 40-foot ISO container as the standard for intermodal equipment.
Choosing the right mode for the right load in this competitive environment, is now becoming more important than ever. A shipper's delivery requirements are considered along with availability of shipment mode - over-the-road and intermodal. Equipment availability, train schedules, distances and how to balance freight lines are some of the factors to be considered. A problem voiced in the intermodal industry, is that there are to many non-standard equipment sizes and types, resulting in inefficiencies in loading, reduced productivity of dock personnel, and freight damage. Therefore, there is a need to standardize equipment and containers and attachments therefor, which can be utilized universally, efficiently and effectively.
There is also a need to allow railroads and other transportation modes to work together to develop efficiencies, such as with new equipment, scheduling techniques and the like to allow shippers to be able to choose transport products via railroad, truck or a combination of both, without losing productivity, while maximizing weight and cube advantages. Accordingly, new technologies are needed and being created, such as the container handle and container of the present invention, and hoisting equipment, that will expedite the transportation of containers and solve many of the problems plaguing this industry.
Efforts to expedite the handling of freight in cargo containerization or in arrangements for connecting containers and hoisting equipment, have been attempted in the past. To date, connecting mechanisms of satisfactory thinness have not been devised which substantially conform to wall or frame thickness of container walls and thus prevent or minimize intrusion into the pay load space of the container, or projection beyond the outer contour of the container. Thin connections are desirable to increase the cubic space available for the pay load, while also providing an efficient and effective means to handle a container and expedite the interactions with a hoist, for improved efficiency. A standard container handle and container is desirable in view of the trend toward larger containers.
A desirable pick-up arrangement for a container resides in cooperating construction of a container, container handles and hoisting implements which enable coupling of the container and the implement and which simplifies the frame construction of the container and avoids undesirable protrusions into the lading space of the container.
As the lengths of containers are extended, the handle is becoming increasingly important in terms of construction, ability to handle larger loads and maximizing cubic area for loading.
Accordingly, there is a need for a container handle and container arranged with such handles, that will minimize the cost, space encroachment, complexities of container and hoist equipment, construction, or weaknesses of container handles and container construction inherent in the devices and mechanisms presently known in the art.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved container handle and container, which overcomes most if not all of the problems facing this and related industries.